Lavrov Tells UN General Assembly, Not ‘Might Is Right’ but ‘Right Is Might’
Sept. 28, 2021 (EIRNS)—Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who spoke for the Russian Federation at the UN General Assembly Debate on Sept. 25, used his speech to make clear the important difference between international law and the reality behind the sophistry of a “rules-based order.” International law is a principle based upon “right is might”—not “might is right.” The latter is behind the “selfish interests” of the “so-called ‘rules-based order’ concept that the West is persistently introducing into political discourse as opposed to international law.” The U.S.’s “Summit for Democracy” makes democracy into a wedge to interfere into countries’ internal affairs, but there can be no challenging the undemocratic reality outside of countries, such as NATO. Talk of democracy—such as the U.S.’s “Summit for Democracy”—is a cover for interfering into sovereign countries and has no reality for relations between countries, where the undemocratic military weapons of NATO are not to be brought up. “In the same vein of the ‘rules-based order,’ the United States ... strives to impose its will” against Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, “in flagrant violation of the [UN] Charter-based principle of non-interference in internal affairs of sovereign states.... The use of unilateral restrictive measures undermines the prerogatives of the Security Council and runs counter to the UN Secretary-General’s call to suspend them at least for the period of the pandemic.”
Lavrov said that it was now time to stop the “policy aimed at undermining the UN-centric architecture” and choose the path of
“rejecting any confrontation and stereotypes, and joining efforts to address key tasks of humanity’s development and survival. We have enough instruments for this. First and foremost, it is the UN and its Security Council, which needs to be adapted to the reality of a polycentric world order....
“The UN Security Council permanent members, who, according to the UN Charter, bear a special responsibility before the Organization, can and must encourage genuine collective action. President of Russia Vladimir Putin has proposed to convene a P5 summit to hold a frank discussion on global stability issues.” He continued to enumerate: As there were “great expectations” for the “prospect of the Russian-American dialogue” on arms control, per the U.S.-Russian summit at Geneva, this could work. He referenced Biden’s extension of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty as encouraging. “Of enormous importance,” he stressed, was that the two Presidents “reaffirmed their commitment to the principle according to which there can be no winners in a nuclear war and it must never be fought.”
Russian proposals on addressing the cyberwarfare problem was a basis for common agreement, where concerns can be examined “in a transparent manner, relying on facts.”
“In Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen and in other hotbeds, all external actors must show an understanding of the cultural and civilizational specifics of society, reject politicization of humanitarian aid, and assist in the establishment of government bodies with broad representation of all major ethnic, religious and political forces of the relevant countries. Guided by such an approach, Russia has been constructively engaged in the promotion of the Afghan settlement via the extended Troika and the Moscow format, has contributed to stabilizing the situation in Syria in the framework of the Astana process, and has been working with all Libyan parties to implement political reforms.”
He added, “It was with great interest that we perceived the Global Development Initiative proposed by President of China Xi Jinping, which resonates with our own approaches.”
Lavrov finished with a twinkle: “In conclusion, I would like to propose a hashtag #UNCharterIsOurRules.”
